Parents settle suit for alleged bullying by their children

Father faults them and school district for the two year of taunts his son endured

S.L. WYKES, San Jose Mercury News |
October 16, 2005

SAN JOSE, CALIF. - The parents of students accused of harassing a classmate have settled a lawsuit filed against them and a San Mateo County, Calif., school district where the alleged name-calling occurred.

Lawsuits against the parents of alleged bullies are rare, with school officials usually the first to be accused of not doing enough to stop bullying. But Shaposhnikov v. the Pacifica School District and John Roes 1-10 may be part of a new approach to finding legal fault — and somebody to pay financial damages — when bullying goes unchallenged, experts say.

In this suit, Mark Shaposhnikov alleges the district allowed his son, a competitive dancer, to be taunted with homosexual slurs for two years in middle school, in violation of federal laws forbidding harassment and discrimination. Shaposhnikov says he met many times with school officials — and that nothing changed until he filed the lawsuit.

Vicarious liability

"Our position was 'OK, school, you're responsible,' and the school came back repeatedly and said, 'No, we're not. We communicated with the parents and repeatedly told them about this,' " said Paul Smoot, the attorney representing the Shaposhnikovs.

So, the suit used a legal principle called vicarious liability, the idea that parents are responsible for their children's behavior — in this case, "intentional infliction of emotional distress," Smoot said.

Six of the parents of alleged bullies named in the suit have settled, but terms of the deal are confidential, Smoot said. The other four parents have not been located.

The Pacifica School District is still fighting the lawsuit, and school officials say they think the parents settled under pressure from the carriers of their homeowners insurance policies. The settlement, said superintendent Michele Garside, "does not reflect the merits of the case."

For the district, she said, the case "is a matter of principle, and we will seek vindication."

A trial is set for April.

Familiar territory

The Shaposhnikov suit is the second time the district has found itself sued because of alleged failure to stop harassment of a student. In 1997, a 12-year-old Pacifica boy and his mother sued the district, then known as the Laguna Salada Union Elementary District, alleging that officials did nothing to protect him when students subjected him to homosexual slurs.

That suit was settled out of court, with the district agreeing to incorporate harassment training programs into its staff training. Garside said the district has done regular and extensive training, "the most of any district in the county."

Leecia Welch of the National Center for Youth Law said the involvement of the parents of bullies has not been commonplace, but she'd noticed a few cases recently that indicated parents are becoming aware they can sue through a homeowners insurance policy "if they can show parents should have been or were aware of what a kid was doing."